Pollo Guisado Is Hen Soup’s Richer, Bolder Cousin

Throughout Latin America, cooks flip rooster, tomatoes, and spices into pollo guisado, a comforting stew that is endlessly adaptable. Particularly in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, it is a weeknight favourite that is hearty sufficient to feed a household, easy sufficient to tug along with pantry staples, and versatile sufficient to welcome no matter greens or seasonings you have got readily available. Some variations are briny with olives, others candy with bell peppers. On this recipe, I lean savory, with inviting chunks of potatoes and carrots to accompany the meat. No matter supporting substances you add, all variations share the identical core: tender rooster simmered till it soaks up a deeply flavored tomato-based sauce.

I did not develop up with this dish, however as soon as I stumbled throughout it a number of years in the past, it shortly grew to become an everyday in my kitchen. What I really like most is how versatile it’s. There is no single “proper” method to make pollo guisado, so this model pulls from just a few traditions to create one thing vivid, herby, and a bit spicy. It’s change into a dish I cook dinner for household gatherings or simply for my fiancé and me on a weeknight.

Getting the rooster proper on the very starting makes all of the distinction within the taste of the ultimate dish, and that begins with seasoning the meat not less than half-hour earlier than it hits the pot. There are a few causes to salt the rooster upfront. First, it flavors the meat all the way in which to the bone. Second, it dries the pores and skin so it will probably brown as an alternative of steaming. In lots of variations of pollo guisado, the pores and skin is eliminated and discarded, however doing meaning dropping out on loads of taste. By crisping the pores and skin earlier than braising, you retain it from turning rubbery and, extra importantly, you render out its fats, which turns into the bottom for frying the onions and tomatoes.

From there, the sauce is constructed on a mix of tomato paste, garlic, dried chiles, and heat spices like cloves, coriander, and cumin. A contact of bouillon powder enhances the rooster taste within the broth, including deep savoriness. To pack in much more rooster taste, the carcass (the remaining spine and any bones after breaking down the rooster) could be added to the pot together with the browned items, the place it slowly simmers till the meat is tender and infused with the sauce. As soon as the rooster is finished, the meat is faraway from the pot and the potatoes and carrots end cooking within the lowered broth till they’re creamy and coated. The result’s a stew with a shiny, velvety sauce that adheres to each chew of meat and vegetable. All you want is a handful of cilantro and a few crusty bread to mop up the pot.

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